


High School and Heroes

by violetwolfraven



Category: Arrow - Fandom, Arrowverse - Fandom
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, High School AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, basically everything in the arrowverse happens but with slightly changed circumstances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-03-02 09:05:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18808033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetwolfraven/pseuds/violetwolfraven
Summary: In a High School AU, Dinah Drake develops a crush on the new nerdy girl, Laurel. Navigating their friends’ disfunctional romances and school life in general, there is a lot of drama.





	1. Chapter 1

“Great Job, Dinah!” Oliver exclaimed.  
Dinah pulled off her helmet, “You really think so?”  
“I think you could’ve given Dinah Lance a run for her money.”  
Dinah looked down, “Not so sure about that.”  
At Star City High, everyone knew about football legend Dinah Lance. She had been the most valuable member of the team, despite being a girl.   
Actually, a good portion of the SCH Arrows were girls. They’d gotten a lot of crap about it over the years, but Dinah Lance had proved them all wrong, cementing them at the top of the league.   
But, of course, it couldn’t last.   
Dinah Lance had found out that the quarterback of the Sorcerers, a rival team, was engaging in an illegal drug ring. He’d shot her, and Oliver and several of the others on the team had almost died getting him exposed to avenge her.  
They’d brought on Dinah Drake as a replacement, right after she’d transferred from Central City High.  
“Dinah,” Oliver said, “The other Dinah would have been proud of what you’ve done.”  
“What, helping win a few games?” Dinah asked, “I’m trying, but she left a pretty big footprint to fill.”  
Oliver shrugged, “Well, she said she wanted someone to fill it.”  
Dinah nodded as one of their other mutual friends, Roy, ran up.   
“Roy?” Dinah asked, confused, “Is everything okay?”  
“Sort of,” Roy mumbled, “Oliver, there’s a... it’s complicated.”  
“What is it?” Oliver asked.   
“A new girl just enrolled,” Roy explained, “She transferred from a gifted school after getting kicked out.”  
“And?” Oliver asked.   
“Her name is Laurel,” Roy said, “And she’s Dinah’s twin. Her identical twin.”


	2. Chapter 2

Laurel could feel everyone staring as she walked through the hallways of Star City High. She knew who they kept thinking she was.   
Truth be told, Laurel hadn’t even known her twin that well. When they were really little, they’d been split up after Sara went missing, because their paranoid-ass father was convinced someone would come after them, too. Laurel had been sent to a ‘gifted’ boarding school, and Dinah, (their parents’ favorite) had stayed in Star City.   
Even after they’d found Sara years later, Laurel had stayed at her school. Their parents had divorced, Mom taking Sara to a school on the other side of town called History High, where the youngest Lance had quickly become the all-around sports star of the Legends, and Laurel had been very happy to stay away from all that drama.  
In the last decade, Laurel only saw either of her sisters on holidays and sometimes on summers.   
But that hadn’t made the news that Dinah was dead hurt any less.  
“Don’t worry, Laurel,” a peppy little blonde called Felicity said, “Everyone will love you! They loved Dinah.”  
“I’m not Dinah,” Laurel pointed out.   
Felicity shrugged, “Well, if I can make friends, anybody can. I mean, I don’t know shit about sports or musicals or even most of my classes. In fact, the only things I’m really good at are math and science, and I mean I do have straight A’s, but those are the only classes I really care about, so— “  
“I get it,” Laurel interrupted, “You’re kind of a nerd.”  
Felicity nodded, “Yep. And somehow I still ended up friends with the majority of the Star City Arrows football team.”  
She nodded at a cluster of boys, all of whom were standing across the hallway wearing football gear and staring at Laurel like they’d seen a ghost.  
“They think I’m my sister,” Laurel guessed.   
“No,” Felicity said, “I told Roy who you were, and he went and told the guys.”  
Laurel sighed, “But they think I’m like her.”  
Felicity didn’t deny that.   
Laurel noticed someone standing off to the side. A brown-haired girl with green eyes, who was watching her curiously, but not with the same haunted expression as the boys.  
“Who’s she?” Laurel asked, nodding at the girl.  
“That’s Dinah Drake,” Felicity explained, “Also a friend. She plays as an Arrow in the position Dinah used to play.”  
Laurel felt a twinge of annoyance at the thought that anybody thought they could replace her sister.   
“Might as well get this over with,” she muttered, heading over to the boys and girl.  
“So,” the blond boy in the lead said, “You’re Laurel.”  
“Yeah,” Laurel agreed, “And you are..?”  
“Oliver,” He said, “Uh, this is John, Roy, Curtis, Rene, and Dinah.” He gestured to each member of his team in turn as he named them.  
“Ahem,” a smaller brunette said, pushing her way out from behind the boys and flashing Laurel a smile.   
“And Thea,” Oliver said with a roll of his eyes, “First freshman to ever make it on the start-up team, and my baby sister who, not even a year ago, almost got expelled because she was vaping in the bathrooms.”  
“Don’t see why that last part was necessary,” Thea said.  
Oliver elbowed her, and Laurel wondered if that was what she and Dinah would have been like if they’d been kept together. She was just the tiniest bit jealous.   
“So, what do you like to do?” Dinah asked.   
Laurel could barely look her in the eye as she answered, “Performing arts, mostly. Singing in particular.”  
“Cool,” Roy mumbled. Laurel could tell he was disappointed. He was clearly hoping she would be like Dinah had been.  
The bell rung for class, and Laurel couldn’t be happier to get away from that conversation.   
“See you all later,” she mumbled.   
She didn’t mind all of the others’ stares. But Dinah Drake’s? That made her want to do something she knew she’d regret.


	3. Chapter 3

Dinah could tell that the new girl didn’t like her.

That was all well and good. She didn’t particularly like Laurel Lance, either, or care what she thought of her. 

The fact that the two had nearly all of their classes together made things interesting, though. 

The fact that for some reason, their English teacher had seen fit to put them right next to each other also contributed to that interestingness.

For the most part, the two ignored each other, but there were times when that wasn’t possible. Such as now, when they were tasked with quizzing each other in preparation for the test.

”In your opinion in  _To Kill a Mockingbird_ , what would have happened if Boo Radley hadn’t come to save Jem and Scout?” Dinah asked.

Laurel shrugged, “I dunno, but I doubt I’d be thanking some creepy dude I spent most of my life terrified of for coming in out of no where and stabbing a man with a kitchen knife.”

”But Jem and Scout were in trouble.”

”Maybe they were. But nobody asked Boo Radley to swoop in and act like a hero.”

Dinah got the feeling they really weren’t talking about their test anymore.

”Well, what was the alternative?” she asked coldly, “That Boo just sit around and watch them die?”

”Jem was a hero,” Laurel hissed, “Boo Radley didn’t have a right to come in and replace him. Jem was Scout’s Brother, _not_ Boo Radley. And no matter how hard he trains or how many wins he gets, Boo Radley can _never_ replace him.”

Dinah scoffed, “You think Boo Radley wanted to replace Jem? Maybe he just wanted some friends for once.”

 “If he wanted friends, he could have had them,” Laurel said, “But running to Scout’s rescue like Jem’s attempt at saving her was nothing? That wasn’t okay.”

_God_ , Dinah wanted to punch this annoying little blonde. She knew the girl was grieving her twin, but she didn’t have to take it out on someone who’d never even met Dinah and sure as hell didn’t want to replace—

The bell rung, dissolving some of the tension. Both of them relaxed, a good portion of the anger melting away as they knew had to get to their next class. 

Neither of them spoke as they packed up. Dinah kind of hoped neither of them _would_ speak to the other again today. That way, maybe nobody would get hurt.

But as Dinah stood up to leave her desk, her blonde table partner blocked her path.

”I need to get to math, Laurel,” Dinah said calmly. She wasn’t going to let this bitch know her comments bothered her.

”Boo Radley can try to replace Jem all he wants,” Laurel said quietly, “But he will never, _never_ , be as good as him.”

As Laurel walked away, Dinah fought the urge to throw up.

...

Felicity was, as usual, her peppy, bright self. That was a relief, considering her partner for her previous class was anything but.

”I mean I think that I know,” Felicity rambled, “But how do I _know_ , know? And what if I’m wrong? What if I ruin our friendship? I love him enough that I’m happy just being friends if it means things won’t be awkward, but—“

”Felicity,” Laurel interrupted, cutting her only friend off, “Believe me, you are the nicest person I know. If Oliver doesn’t see that, he’s an idiot and he doesn’t deserve you.”

Felicity’s nervous energy chose to play with the hem of her shirt to relieve itself, which Laurel wouldn’t have minded, except she knew her friend would regret stretching out the bottom of her favorite t-shirt later. She put a hand on Felicity’s to stop it.

”Oops,” Felicity mumbled, “But anyway, I care about Oliver _so much_. How do I know if he loves me back?”

Laurel shrugged, “To be honest, I don’t know Oliver well enough to know if he thinks of you in that way. But I do know that generally, if a jock loves you, he’s going to let you know. And you two have shared trauma. I don’t think he could possibly not develop feelings after what you two have been through.”

”Did you just reference Stranger Things?”

”Maybe.”

Felicity briefly smiled at that, but quickly got more serious.

”We should probably start doing what we’re actually supposed to be doing in choir. You do still want to get the solo for the football game, right?”

Laurel smiled, “Definitely. Thank God you play the piano, Felicity Smoak. Makes practicing in a soundproof room that much easier.”

”Pretty cool, right? The school had to pay a ton of money for these so that we wouldn’t disturb the other classroom with our loud practice, or—“

”Felicity.”

”Right, sorry.”

As the shorter girl started playing the opening notes to one of her favorite songs that they just happened to be performing this year, Laurel let her mind drift to happier times.

Times before girls named Dinah who weren’t her sister.

Times before she had to worry about fitting in in a school where everyone knew her as the girl she had once shared a face with. 


	4. Chapter 4

(Oliver’s POV for the first time.:))

Oliver admittedly hadn’t known Dinah for that long, but he could tell she was tense. The brunette wore her heart on her sleeve, so it wasn’t like it was hard.

When Oliver asked Rene and Curtis, the two only confirmed it. They had noticed how weird their teammate was acting, too.

They were all nervous, in their own way, for the first game of the season. This was the game that would define how their team stood in the future season. This was the game that people would use to predict how they would perform later.

But being nervous for the game and eating half the cupcakes Roy had brought  after snapping at Thea for cutting her off in the parking lot was not the same thing.

Thea had _just_ started driving. She wasn’t even allowed to drive without their mom in the passenger seat yet, so why the hell would Dinah expect her to...

Oliver was being unfair. He just really didn’t like it when people messed with his sister.

Basically, something was bothering Dinah, and even if she wouldn’t admit it, Oliver knew. He knew as clear as how Roy and Thea were badly hiding their makeout sessions behind lame excuses of needing to study. In Thea’s room. Alone.

Curtis and Rene thought Oliver should just leave it alone. Dinah would come to them for help if she needed it. She clearly didn’t right now, as she wasn’t coming to them.

Curtis and Rene might know Dinah better, but they weren’t trying to lead a team to victory against the Central City Flashes, who were a formidable team whom the Arrows had a friendly rivalry with. The whole team needed to be at the top of their game if they were going to beat them.

But when Oliver finally confronted Dinah, he didn’t expect the response he got.

”It’s Laurel!” the brunette exclaimed, “She’s driving me crazy with all these badly veiled threats because she thinks I’m out to replace her sister!”

Oliver didn’t know what to say. What came out was not the inspirational team captain speech he was hoping for.

”Oh. That sucks.”

Oliver might not know Dinah well, but he knew her a hell of a lot better than he knew Laurel. He’d been purposefully avoiding the blonde since she’d gotten to their school. He didn’t need a reminder of what had happened to the girl who’d been there for him through everything since they were 4.

Oliver had known about Laurel, of course. He’d met her exactly once after seeing her a few times in passing when they were really little, when they were all 12, but she’d been too shy to talk to him much beyond screaming really loudly when he accidentally jump-scared her by standing up too fast from where he’d been plugging in the Christmas lights. Apparently she’d told her twin about that, because Dinah always found excuses after that incident to keep her sister and her friend separate whenever the twin was in town, which wasn’t often. She _really_ liked that boarding school of hers. She even stayed there sometimes over Christmas break.

Dinah finishing some sort of rant about everything Laurel Lance had apparently done in the last few days snapped Oliver out of his thoughts, leaving him with only a few seconds to come up with a response to an angry speech he hadn’t actually heard.

”Laurel is a complicated person,” he said at last, “But Dinah—the other Dinah—she loved her. I’m trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, just like you are, so believe me, I know how hard it is.”

”It’s probably even harder for you than it is for me,” Dinah mumbled, “I never even _met_ Dinah Lance. I keep trying to cut Laurel slack because I know she just misses her and probably isn’t a bad person, but she’s not making it easy.”

“I used to have a friend who taught me nothing worth doing is easy,” Oliver responded.

The face of a stern, tough Japanese teenage girl came to mind.

Oliver had been kidnapped, along with his friend, Sara Lance, years ago when he was 5 and Sara was 4. It hadn’t been until Oliver was 10 that he’d escaped, and he’d lost track of Sara 3 years prior, unable to protect her. Sara herself had apparently escaped when she was 6, having somehow impressed and essentially been adopted by a gang she’d been rented out to at the time, but she wasn’t who Oliver was thinking of.

Being trapped in a circle of human traffickers who used children and teenagers as slave labor was hell. Everyone who’d heard Oliver’s story knew that. They didn’t know that that was where he’d first gotten serious about football. An older boy there, Slade Wilson, had taught the others, disguising it as a pastime for their rest hours. In reality, it was teaching them battle strategy, strength, and speed. 

5 years. 5 escape attempts, each ending in more death and more loss. Oliver had made and lost so many friends in those 5 years. He still hadn’t opened up fully to anyone about all the kids he’d seen die. Not his mom, not Thea, not even John. The only person he’d really thought about opening up to was Felicity.

Felicity Smoak. Now there was a girl who could match wits with Oliver any day. That was rare, and even if the blonde stuttered a bit around him and somehow managed to accidentally turn everything into a ‘that’s what she said’ joke, Oliver respected her more than almost anyone he knew. He and Dinah had always joked that they were going to get married when they grew up, but Oliver had barely been able to get Felicity out of his head since he met her and...

He was getting off-topic.

Tatsu was over a decade older than Oliver. She’d been 19 when he met her, and despite having been in captivity much longer than he had, was much farther from being broken. Oliver hadn’t seen her get scared once. She was calm because she had to be, for everyone else’s sake. She would give orders quietly but firmly, and you would obey because you knew she was thinking of what was best for you and for the group. Besides Slade, she was one of the only older ones who even tried to protect the younger.

Tatsu had taught Oliver not to give up as she lead by example. Even when the boy she loved lost all hope after the 3-year-old son they never meant to have was killed in Oliver’s 3rd escape attempt, she didn’t. No one knew she was even planning it, but Tatsu had disappeared one night, nobody being able to figure out how she did it. And the next day, the police very nearly caught the traffickers.

Of course, Dinah Drake couldn’t know about Tatsu, but Oliver didn’t have to tell the specifics of the story to let her know that he knew what he was talking about.

Dinah sighed, “I know. I wouldn’t be here if I only did what was easy.”

Oliver clapped her on the shoulder, “And that’s why I’m glad you’re here. Remember; you _earned_ this. You wouldn’t be playing this position if you didn’t deserve it. Dinah Lance told me not to let her be the last Canary, and trust me. I didn’t give my best friend’s position lightly.”

Oliver saw Dinah flinch slightly at the word ‘Canary.’ She clearly still wasn’t used to the title.

Over the years, the football positions had gotten new names among the team, through a series of nicknames and code names. 

The nicknames and code names of course, came from the various shady things the team had ended up busting over the years. The public didn’t know about the code names, of course, but Oliver wasn’t sure at what point the Arrows would stop being ‘teen heroes’ and started being ‘vigilantes.’

It had all started out with him trying to drown the illegal organization that had taken Oliver’s childhood and so many of his friends away from him. He hadn’t meant to recruit the rest of his team, let alone a computer geek with big blue eyes and a smile that could light up—

Oliver forced himself to refocus as Dinah attempted some sarcasm.

”I kind of recall you taking one look at me at tryouts and telling everyone else to go home.”

”Hey, I know talent when I see it. And for the record, I watched you for 20 minutes before I decided you were the one.”

Oliver felt good about the way his friend seemed to feel a little better.

...

The first two quarters went well, the Arrows still angry enough to wipe the floor with the Sorcerers. They’d managed to only lose one player to the bench on account of injuries, but Evelyn played a little too dirty for Dinah’s liking, anyway.

Halftime meant the school choir was singing, and Dinah could spot from a mile away how Oliver was just waiting for Felicity’s solo.

Dinah remembered how the blonde had told her about their arrangement. They were doing a mostly a cappella medley where every member got to choose a song to incorporate. They’d been practicing this since before school had even started, having gotten their arrangements over email during summer.

No one could deny the choir was great. Felicity blushed as she sang the part where she was on lyrics, to Taylor Swift’s ‘Stay Stay Stay.’

”You took the time to memorize me, my fears, my hopes and dreams, I just like hanging out with you! All the time... All those times that you didn’t leave, it’s been occurring to me, I’d like to hang out with you... for my whole life...”

Slowly, Felicity stepped back as the song transitioned to a much quieter, almost threatening tone.

Another certain blonde stepped forward, taking the mic from Felicity.

For a second, Dinah actually thought things would be fine, but then Laurel glared at her, raising the mic to her lips, bringing an abrupt crescendo.

The song itself wasn’t supposed to be about a girl. But if anyone noticed Laurel changing little details, no one said anything.

”She’s a... good time! Cowboy Casanova, leaning up against the record machine! She looks like, a cool drink of water, but she’s candy-coated misery! She’s the devil in disguise, a snake with green eyes, and she only comes out at night! Gives you feelings that you don’t want to fight, you better run for your life!

Run, run, away, don’t let her mess with your mind. She’ll tell you anything you wanna hear. She’ll break your heart, it’s just a matter of time...”

Okay. Messing with Dinah in the classroom was one thing.

But messing with her on the field and implying that she was going to let her team down, or maybe even downright _betray_ them, was another.

Dinah would never let her team down like that. The fact that Laurel was acting like she would hurt more than it should.

Oliver caught her eye, for once looking away from Felicity.

”Okay. Crossing _that_ line was a little too far. If you want to go to war, the team will stand with you.”

Dinah honestly didn’t know if she wanted to.


End file.
